Disclosure: This book was provided by Skyhorse Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Carissa Bonham is a food and craft blogger based near Portland, Oregon. She developed her website, Creative Green Living, in 2013 with a focus on healthy recipes, crafts, DIY projects, and gardening tips. For Beautiful Smoothie Bowls, she has collaborated with a handful of other health-minded bloggers to bring together a wonderful collection smoothie bowls.

Chapters are divided according to the following: Smoothie Bowl Magic (Why Smoothie Bowls?, Smoothie Bowl Basics), A Rainbow of Nourishing Superfoods, Blending Our Way Through the Rainbow, Join Me on a Smoothie Bowl Journey, and Recipe Contributor Credits. The recipes for the smoothie bowls are organized according to color: white and light to pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Carissa begins with a little background on the smoothie bowl, from its beginnings with Brazil’s Açai Bowls in the 1970s to the vast array of colorful smoothies and toppings today. In its basic form, a smoothie bowl is a smoothie thick enough to be served with a spoon and topped, often in a beautifully styled manner, with a variety of ingredients such as fresh fruit, seeds, and granola. She goes through the basics- including how to arrange the smoothie bowl from the bottom up, a troubleshooting guide, helpful equipment, and an overview of the most common ingredients. I particularly appreciated the tips scattered throughout the book covering topics such as storage guides, cracking open a fresh coconut, freezing watermelon, chilling coconut milk to separate the cream, peeling ginger, and how to create fun shapes with the toppings.

The photography is provided by Carissa Bonham and Karissa Martindale. Every recipe is accompanied by a beautifully-styled full page photo. There are also labels for each of the bowls noting whether they are vegan, paleo, gluten free, and/or dairy free. Fifty of the recipes are completely vegan, but the remaining thirty can be easily adapted with yogurt and milk substitutes.

This book is a great pick for those looking for new ways to enjoy fruit year-round prepared in a fun manner with minimal ingredients. It is quickly nearing winter here with less fresh fruit available, but many of the bowls can be made purely with frozen fruit (and frozen is actually often ideal to create a creamier and thicker smoothie). Carissa also includes a handful of fall-themed bowls such as Orange Carrot Love, Sweet Potato Pie, Smashing Pumpkin, and Carrot Cake. Nearly all the recipes come together in 5-10 minutes and include ingredients readily available in the average American supermarket. Some items that may require a little more searching include kombucha, chia seeds, edible flowers, açai, hemp seeds, black sesame seeds, spirulina, dried goji berries, flaxseed, bee pollen, and dragon fruit. You will also need a blender and/or food processor and a sharp knife.

Apple Pie Smoothie Bowl

This Apple Pie Smoothie Bowl features all of the flavors of an apple pie in a quick and delicious smoothie bowl. Fresh apples are blended with yogurt, bananas, and apple pie spice until smooth, then topped with diced apples, granola, a yogurt drizzle, and cinnamon.

To make the yogurt topping thin enough to drizzle, I whisked a couple of tablespoons with a splash of milk.

I don’t personally keep Apple Pie Spice in my pantry, but found a simple recipe on My Baking Addiction with a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cardamom.

Other Dishes

I also made the Peachy Pom, Pineapple Paradise, Smashing Pumpkin, and Matcha Berry Energy.

Peachy Pom is a great way to enjoy peaches and other summer fruit during the offseason. Frozen peaches, pomegranate arils, and blueberries are blended with coconut milk and topped with banana slices, blueberries, and a sprinkle of granola. This one was Chad’s favorite.

The Pineapple Paradise was my personal favorite. Banana, pineapple, and peach chunks are blended with coconut milk and orange juice and topped with banana slices, strawberries, and granola.

The Smashing Pumpkin is perfect for using up extra pumpkin puree from your autumn baking. The pumpkin is blended with yogurt, almond milk, a little maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It is topped with raisins, walnuts, rolled oats, plus an extra sprinkling of cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Matcha Berry Energy is a great morning pick-me-up. Frozen blueberries, strawberries, and bananas are blended with coconut milk and matcha powder. The bowl is topped with chia seeds, banana slices, and fresh blackberries.